So its been a while since I've created one of these threads. Cruising around in the Members Rides section and seeing some OG's renewing their love for E30 again gave me a tingle in my pringle can, so why not create my own? I have, after all, sunk all of my time and money in this piece of shit. ;D
This all started by putting my M42 swapped late model 2002 for sale on Craigslist. It was a little rustier than I would have liked, which of course I didn't know until the drivetrain was out. Many hours and thousands of dollars later, I wanted out (I regret now).
The 2002 being loaded up. :sad:
I was offered a trade plus cash for this little Glacier blue sedan, and I sort of fell in love with it. I'd never had a sedan before after owning several E30's, and this one was a Nashville car its entire life. It just seemed right...
It was pretty rough though. I didnt know how rough until I dove in, but you get the idea. About 200k miles of being driven hard and hung up wet. The PO said that this car was originally sold to a BMW of Nashville tech, and it basically changed hands between the dealer techs for a long time as a daily and fun car. It was insanely stock for how used it was. The undercarriage looked spectacular too.
The agenda was:
-Clean it up as best as possible
-Get it mechanically sound and track the nuts out of it slash weekend CnC fun car
-Keep it stock-ish and have fun
-Dont dump all your money into it
-Make it different than all your other E30s
That never happened.....
The tear down begins. And body work. LOTS of body work. I thought this car was pretty straight too... NOPE.
My buddy Alex banged this dent out with a rusty hatchet and a mallet. Pretty impressive if you ask me!
Blunt would be proud. Couldnt resist drawing dicks all over it.
Then paint... I was lucky enough to slip into a real booth thanks to my awesome friend.
I was advised to get this stuff - it laid down extremely nice.
Paint turned out great. A few spots to fix, but all in all the Nason choice was the right choice.
Then the mechanical bug set in and the basics were ordered. I thought I was satisfied with a standard Bav Auto/Bilstein Sport drop and a few other odds and ends...
NOPE, NOT LOW ENOUGH. TOO SWIMMY. So the real fuckery began.
-Ground Control 550/650
-Bilstein Sports
-Subframe rebuild (everything, including axles)
-Stainless Stoptech brake lines
-UUC Strut tower bar
-Front suspension rebuild - control arms, bushings, sway bar endlinks, tie rods + alignment
All the little bits and pieces that make it feel right.
-Mtech 2 steering wheel
-ZHP knob
-IS lip
Still wasn't enough. I saw nothing but flaws in the car after all this stuff started coming together. So of course...
-New Pioneer head unit, Pioneers 3-way speakers all around, and Pioneer ultra compact 8" subwoofer
-sunroof gaskets
-fuel door spring and rubber
-antenna and body grommet
-Hella H4 low and high beam headlights (new old stock)
-ZKW fog light replacements
-IS rear spoiler
-Euro plate filler
-Cloth euro sport seats (from a coupe)
-Dash mat from Bav Auto (I passed on a crack free sedan dash for $80 too, FML)
-rebuilt AFM
-throttle cable
-Euroweaves from my old 318is coupe (my last E30)
-Color edition door cards from a touring (thanks dude)
.....And so much more. Its embarassing to see my parts list grow as I document this stuff. Which btw, don't document car builds. Ever. Or let your girlfriend/wife see said documentation. Anyways...
The Euroweaves just didn't feel as good. Gotta do something better. Hopefully I'll have enough time to finish these before Vintage!
Promptly ordered new 1.5" and 2" lips from Germany. Tunershop had these delivered to my door direct from Germany in under 48 hours from eBay. WTF!
...and finally how it sits today. Nice and tight, just how I like my men I mean cars.
And a bonus shot from an old Third Thursday E30 CCA meet also staring agent's super clean 325is early model coupe. Back when I had some RS kopis on. Yuck.
Bye!
This all started by putting my M42 swapped late model 2002 for sale on Craigslist. It was a little rustier than I would have liked, which of course I didn't know until the drivetrain was out. Many hours and thousands of dollars later, I wanted out (I regret now).
The 2002 being loaded up. :sad:
I was offered a trade plus cash for this little Glacier blue sedan, and I sort of fell in love with it. I'd never had a sedan before after owning several E30's, and this one was a Nashville car its entire life. It just seemed right...
It was pretty rough though. I didnt know how rough until I dove in, but you get the idea. About 200k miles of being driven hard and hung up wet. The PO said that this car was originally sold to a BMW of Nashville tech, and it basically changed hands between the dealer techs for a long time as a daily and fun car. It was insanely stock for how used it was. The undercarriage looked spectacular too.
The agenda was:
-Clean it up as best as possible
-Get it mechanically sound and track the nuts out of it slash weekend CnC fun car
-Keep it stock-ish and have fun
-Dont dump all your money into it
-Make it different than all your other E30s
That never happened.....
The tear down begins. And body work. LOTS of body work. I thought this car was pretty straight too... NOPE.
My buddy Alex banged this dent out with a rusty hatchet and a mallet. Pretty impressive if you ask me!
Blunt would be proud. Couldnt resist drawing dicks all over it.
Then paint... I was lucky enough to slip into a real booth thanks to my awesome friend.
I was advised to get this stuff - it laid down extremely nice.
Paint turned out great. A few spots to fix, but all in all the Nason choice was the right choice.
Then the mechanical bug set in and the basics were ordered. I thought I was satisfied with a standard Bav Auto/Bilstein Sport drop and a few other odds and ends...
NOPE, NOT LOW ENOUGH. TOO SWIMMY. So the real fuckery began.
-Ground Control 550/650
-Bilstein Sports
-Subframe rebuild (everything, including axles)
-Stainless Stoptech brake lines
-UUC Strut tower bar
-Front suspension rebuild - control arms, bushings, sway bar endlinks, tie rods + alignment
All the little bits and pieces that make it feel right.
-Mtech 2 steering wheel
-ZHP knob
-IS lip
Still wasn't enough. I saw nothing but flaws in the car after all this stuff started coming together. So of course...
-New Pioneer head unit, Pioneers 3-way speakers all around, and Pioneer ultra compact 8" subwoofer
-sunroof gaskets
-fuel door spring and rubber
-antenna and body grommet
-Hella H4 low and high beam headlights (new old stock)
-ZKW fog light replacements
-IS rear spoiler
-Euro plate filler
-Cloth euro sport seats (from a coupe)
-Dash mat from Bav Auto (I passed on a crack free sedan dash for $80 too, FML)
-rebuilt AFM
-throttle cable
-Euroweaves from my old 318is coupe (my last E30)
-Color edition door cards from a touring (thanks dude)
.....And so much more. Its embarassing to see my parts list grow as I document this stuff. Which btw, don't document car builds. Ever. Or let your girlfriend/wife see said documentation. Anyways...
The Euroweaves just didn't feel as good. Gotta do something better. Hopefully I'll have enough time to finish these before Vintage!
Promptly ordered new 1.5" and 2" lips from Germany. Tunershop had these delivered to my door direct from Germany in under 48 hours from eBay. WTF!
...and finally how it sits today. Nice and tight, just how I like my men I mean cars.
And a bonus shot from an old Third Thursday E30 CCA meet also staring agent's super clean 325is early model coupe. Back when I had some RS kopis on. Yuck.
Bye!
- 
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